(Jack is putting on his cufflinks when he notices
his and Mary's wedding picture. He picks it up and looks at it, and "Mary"
begins "talking" to him in his subconscious, though the conversation is
out loud.)

JACK: Have you got a problem with that?
I thought Leigh was the woman you'd choose for me, if you had a choice,
which you don't.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: Cruel - it's fair, but
cruel.

JACK: What's going on?

VOICEOVER OF MARY: Well, I'm not so sure
I want you to marry her, after all.

JACK: (turning away, deep in thought) You're
the one that taught me about change, Mary.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: I know.

JACK: (pondering) Loving you - and losing
you - and trying to make sense out of love and loss has been the most important
part of my life, until now.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: And now you love Leigh.

(He turns back to face the picture.)

JACK: But I couldn't, without everything
that's gone before.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: (sighs) I know that
too. Whoever came up with "til death us do part" didn't really get the
picture, huh, Fenelli?

JACK: (smiles) Well, they weren't married
to you, that's for sure.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: Why can't I just let
go?

JACK: (realizing this is not what Mary
would be saying) No, no, the question is, why aren't I willing to let go?
And the answer is, I am still - and will be to my dying day - as defended
against loss and goodbye (he turns away) as a human being can be. But the
reality is (he turns back to face the picture) I don't have to say goodbye
to you, nor you to me, because we have been - and we are - one, and always
will be.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: And wherever thou goeth,
I will go.

JACK: (nods) Yeah. (pointing at the picture)
God help me!

VOICEOVER OF MARY: Be nice! You were doing
so well for a couple of minutes there.

JACK: (smiles) I'm not nice. I've never
been nice. You spent a lot of years telling me how impossible I am.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: So much for change.

JACK: Well, there has to be some constancy
somewhere.

VOICEOVER OF MARY: There is. Most impossible,
most wonderful. I wish you love.

(Jack smiles. There is a knock at the door, which
brings him back to reality. He opens the door to Maeve.)

MAEVE: Good morning. Well, the day is upon
us. How are you?

JACK: Delighted to see you, and surprised.
(closes door)

MAEVE: Well, I needed a moment alone with
you, before it all begins.

JACK: Is something wrong?

MAEVE: No, no, no. Now let me see - see
if I can get through this. (laughs nervously) I wanted to say that I'm
so glad that it was you that loved my Mary, and so glad that you're the
father of my very splendid granddaughter, and for being able to share so
much of your life. It was a joy and a privilege and I thank you very much.

JACK: Maeve, it isn't over!

MAEVE: (nods) Quite right. When there's
a coming together in love of people of like minds and spirit - who worked
very hard at knowing one another and promoting the best in one another,
in a marriage or in a family - why, then, it's never really over, is it?
I mean, the effects live on and on, in us and beyond us and probably in
ways that we will never even know about.

JACK: (nods) That's right.

MAEVE: But, it will be different after
today, you see, and that's life. (shrugs) Moving on.

JACK: The love won't change.

MAEVE: Of course not. Nor my admiration
for you, nor what we've learned from each other, and I value it more than
my words can possibly express. And I needed to say that. And I also want
to wish you and Leigh every conceivable happiness.

(She kisses his cheek.)

JACK: Thank you.

MAEVE: (laughs) Now, I'd better be getting
on because, you see, at six o'clock this morning I was icing your wedding
cake and I left with Sean and Owen hovering around it, my dear, like two
small sharks.

(He laughs and kisses her cheek.)

JACK: I'll see you in church!

(She leaves and he closes the door behind her,
and the scene cuts to the opening sequence.)

Act II: The Ryans' Apartment

(Siobhan comes into the living room, where Maeve is sitting and appears
to be sewing something.)

SIOBHAN: Ma?

MAEVE: Yes, darling?

SIOBHAN: (after a brief nervous smile) I'm scared.

(Maeve is visibly stunned.)

SIOBHAN: (laughs) You should see your face!

MAEVE: (laughs) Well, my dear, that is the last thing I ever
expected to hear come out of your mouth! I was sitting here thinking to
myself, "I think this is the first time in her entire life that my Siobhan
ever said that to me."

(She gets up and puts her arm on Siobhan's shoulder.)

MAEVE: Well, what?

SIOBHAN: You'll laugh.

MAEVE: No, never, I'd never laugh at you, unless you're being
funny.

(They sit down on the couch.)

SIOBHAN: I'm scared of Fenno.

MAEVE: (understanding) Oh, you mean your feelings for him?

(Siobhan nods, then Maeve nods too.)

MAEVE: I see.

SIOBHAN: I promised him I'd let him know today about going into
business together. You know, his license came through and he has to get
an office, pick out stationary and choose a name for us...he has all these
names... He's in love with me, Ma.

MAEVE: (nods) After you clued me in I've been watching him -
I think you're quite right.

SIOBHAN: And because I love him, and I know that I could be in
love with him...but I still...I miss Joe until I ache, and I don't think
that I can ever love anybody that way again, but at the same time, you
know, I would desperately like Fenno to just take care of me, and I'm mortified
by that in myself! And I think I'm crazy and I'm afraid of using him and
making a mess of the whole thing... Does that make any sense?

MAEVE: Siobhan...

SIOBHAN: Yes?

MAEVE: Live. Go. Do!

SIOBHAN: (smiles) You're tough, Ma.

MAEVE: Oh, my darling, I'm not denying your sense of pain and
loss. Feel it; use it. It's the only way in this world to make any sense
out of it at all. Do you understand what I'm saying?